Australian faces death penalty in Malaysia

The case against an Australian man being held on drug trafficking charges in Malaysia has been referred to the country's high court.

Tests have confirmed the quantity of drugs allegedly seized from Dominic Bird exceeds the death penalty threshold.

Bird, formerly from Perth, was arrested in March after allegedly selling methamphetamine to an undercover police officer in Kuala Lumpur.

Bird entered the court shackled to 10 other prisoners, however he appeared in good spirits waving to lawyers and family.

His father struggled to hold back tears during the hearing.

Tests on drugs allegedly seized from the 32-year-old have returned a weight of 168.7 grams.

That is well in excess of the 50-gram threshold which defines trafficking under Malaysian law.

His father was sitting next to me, and his father was fighting back tears, certainly during the early part of the hearing. And you can imagine how confronting that would be to see your child in that situation, although Dominic Bird is obviously in his early 30s, but his father clearly found that very difficult to cope with.